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Dozing on the subway, as Noah Church did on the L train, is a good way to lose your homework. Whats more, its illegal.Credit
Christian Hansen for The New York Times

It’s the time of year when the streets of Morningside Heights, Greenwich Village and a few other neighborhoods are filled with new, unfamiliar faces: college freshmen. Various guides on paper and on the Internet tell these students what they should see and do in their new hometown. Here, then, is the opposite, from the staff writers of The New York Times: a list of things they should not do.

Don’t fall asleep on the subway. So far this year, 150 people have reported that someone made off with their wallet, purse, jewelry or other property while they slept on the train, according to the Police Department. If that’s not bad enough, falling asleep on the train is simply against the rules. Specifically, it is a violation of Section 1050.7, Article C, of the New York City Transit rules of conduct, which states that no rider shall “sleep or doze where such activity may be hazardous to such person or to others.”

Don’t drink too much beer and use the street as a toilet. Drinking in public carries a fine of up to $25, five days in jail, or both. Public urination carries a fine of $50 to $250, 10 days in jail, or both. Also, beware the custom of putting drinks in paper bags to disguise that you’re drinking an alcoholic beverage. “There is no such thing as paper-bagging it and making it legal, even if you put it in a Starbucks cup,” said Edison Alban, a spokesman for the Manhattan district attorney. “You are drinking, regardless.” And besides, if you’re not 21, you shouldn’t be drinking anyway.

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In Washington Square Park, love of the game may cost you.Credit
Ruby Washington/The New York Times

Don’t ask a cabbie (or anyone else) to take you to “HUGH-ston” Street. Houston Street, the Lower Manhattan thoroughfare that put the Ho in SoHo, is pronounced HOW-ston. Unlike the city in Texas, which was named for the first president of the short-lived Republic of Texas, Samuel Houston, Houston Street is named for William Houstoun, a Georgia delegate to the Continental Congress who married into a powerful Manhattan family that owned some of the land on which the street is built. The street name was shortened to Houston in the early 1800s.

Don’t play chess for money with the hustlers in Washington Square Park. As they are hustlers, they will take your money. Also, you could be hit with a summons for unlawful gambling and sent to the criminal courts, where a judge would determine what you owe, according to Jama Adams, a spokeswoman for the city’s Parks Department.

Don’t try to swim in the River. The rivers that ring Manhattan are cleaner than they’ve been in decades, but that doesn’t mean they’re safe for a midnight dip. “When people ask me if it’s O.K. to swim in the East River,” said Beau Ranheim, chief of the marine sciences section at the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, “my question to them is, ‘Are you an Olympic swimmer?’ ” Both the East River, on Manhattan’s east shore, and the Hudson River, on the west shore, can move as fast as four knots, Mr. Ranheim said — enough to wash most casual swimmers out to sea. A few people typically drown in the rivers each year. And once you jump in, you will probably find it very hard to climb out: Access points are few and far between.

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Smoking is al fresco only. But dont try to take your beer along.Credit
Robert Caplin for The New York Times

Don’t count on following the highway signs to get to Yankee Stadium. The markers pointing north from Lower Manhattan along the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive point only in the general direction of the Bronx and leave much navigation to chance. They are among hundreds of markers known as trailblazers, designed to supplement street signs and direct the way to cultural institutions and hospitals. Their placement is subject to the whims of demand for space and available real estate, so the results are often comically uneven. But fear not: Come October there’ll be no reason to go there anyway.

Don’t spend money on condoms. This year, the city started handing out condoms packaged with subway logo-themed designs. More than 10 million have been distributed, according to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. You can find them at places like Beauty Bar on 14th Street and Black Betty in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In many bars and coffee shops, the condoms are in the wall display with the free postcards, where there’s no need to look the drugstore counter girl in the eye.

Don’t order bottled water. New York City draws its tap water from the Catskill/Delaware supply system, qualifying among five large American cities that are not required to filter their drinking water. This year the city received a 10-year waiver from the federal Environmental Protection Agency to keep providing unfiltered water, and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced plans for the city to spend $300 million buying land to protect its watershed. This summer, health department workers have been distributing empty bottles around the city, urging people to fill them with tap water.

Don’t light up in a bar. Cigarette smoking was banned in all bars and restaurants in New York City in March 2003. That’s why there are lots of people standing around on Rivington Street smoking in the rain. Smoking or carrying an open flame or a lighted match in a nonsmoking area is a violation punishable by a $25 fine, 10 days in jail, or both. And besides, if you’re not 21, you shouldn’t be in a bar anyway.